Improvement in book-sewing machines



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D. M00. SMYTH. Book-Sewing Machine. No. 220,312. Patented Oct. 7,1879.

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4 Sheet s-Sheet 2 may Patented Oct. 7,1879.

.H A fi N D M00 SMYTH Book-Sewing Machine. No. 220,312.

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D. M00. SMYTH. B00k,Sewing Machine. No. 220,312. Patented Oct. 7,1879.

. NJETERS, FNDTO-UYHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C.

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9 7 8 T .L C o .mw h mam Y m MMa S m 0W 6 S k D0 0 B N. PETERS, PHOTO-l\THHGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID MOGONNELL SMYTH, OF EAST NORTHWOOD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNORTOGEORGE WELLS ROOT, OF HARTFORD, CONN EGTIOUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOK-SEWING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 220,312, dated October7, 1879 application filed February 3, 1879.

To an whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID MOGONNELL SMYTH, of East Northwood, in theState of New Hampshire, United States of America, have invented anImprovement in Machinery for Sewing together Sheets of Paper or other.Material into Books or Pamphlets, of which the following is aspecification.

The printed or blank sheets are folded in any usual manner, and they maybe sawed at the places where the threads pass into and out of the foldedback edges of the sheet, but usually the sawing is dispensed with.

A vertical shaft is provided with horizontal arms. Preferably there arefour of these arms. The shaft is turned around progressively. Theattendant lays a folded sheet over one of these arms, the shaft isrevolved to bring the arm and folded sheet to the place where the sewingis to be done, the arms are lifted up, and the one with the sheet passesinto a locking device that holds the arm and sheet into place under astripper-plate. Two or more needles, each of a semicircular form, nowreceive a partial revolution and penetrate down through the folded backedge of the sheet into hollows or recesses in the upper edge of the arm,and the points pass upwardly and out again through the fold of thesheet, and these needles are eye-pointed and carry thread with them. Atthis moment two straight horizontal needles are moved across the path ofthe curved needles and catch the loops of thread. The curved needlesretire, leaving the double thread through the back edge of the sheet.The sheet-carrying arms drop down out of theway,leavingthesheetsuspended. Thestripperplate moves and carries thesheet along outof the way of the next sheet and upon atable that isbeneath the lower edge of the leaves. During this time the attendant hasplaced another sheet upon the next arm, and it is moved around toposition and raised up, and the sheet sewed as before; but it ispreferably sewed by another set of semicircular needles standing in theopposite direction, so that the back of the book will not be undulyincreased in thickness by the threads occupying the same position ineach sheet; but the back will be uniform in thickness by thedistribution of the threads with uniformity.

After one book is sewed or any desired number of sheets have beenstitched together, the horizontal needles are to be threaded with twinethrough the eyes near the points, and the needles pulled bodily fromacross the back of the book, and the cords or twine drawn thereby intotheir places in the backs.

Means are provided for giving the proper motions to the parts, such asan actuatingshaft, cams, levers, racks, and springs, and when the booksare heavy I arrange to support the horizontal needles at suitableintervals by metal plates introduced between one sheet and the next, andresting at their ends on supports or ways.

A thread maybe laidinto theloops of thread by a looper, andcatch-threads may also be laid across the back at the places where theneedle passes into the fold.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan of the machine. Fig. 2 is anelevation with the bed in section. Fig. 3 is a plan of the actuatingcams below the bed. Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the sheetsand the horizontal needles. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of part of onesheetsupporting arm and the semicircular needle. Fig. 6 is a detachedview of the stripper-plate. Fig. 7 is a section of one arm with thesheets and horizontal needles. Fig. 8 is a plan of the horizontalneedles and their supporting and actuating devices, and Fig. 9 is anelevation of the same. Fig. 10 shows a device that may be used to aid insupporting the sheets after they have been sewed.

The bed A sustains the main driving-shaft B, and also the other parts ofthe machine. The shaft G passes through and is supported at the bottomby the bed A, and at the top it is held by the end of the frame D, thatis L- shaped and fastened at the lower end to the bed A.

The cam a upon the shaft B gives motion to the rod to and pawl a to turnthe ratchetwheel a and the vertical shaft O a quarterrevolutionperiodically. The spring-pawl a retains the parts and prevents the shaftturnin g backward.

The shaft G has around it a hub, d, that can be moved up and down uponthe shaft, there being a key or square to cause the hub to turn with theshaft, and the lever b on the fulcrum 2 and the cam b on the shaft B areemployed to raise the hub 01 at the proper time.

In some instances it is preferable to attach the hub to the shaft byclamping-nuts above and below it, and to move the shaft cndwiso with thearms at the proper time. In that case the shaft and its feather willslide through the ratchet- Wheel. Upon this hub (I are four horizontalarms, 0 c c c, projecting radially. Each arm is made of a folded pieceof sheet metal over a body, and the folded edges are upward and notchedat the proper places for the semicircular needles to pass in, ashereinafter more fully described.

Near the end of each arm there is a pivoted swinging gage and clip, j,that is made U- shaped to set over the arm and hooked at the inner end.When the folded sheet is laid upon the arm the top angle of the back orfold is brought under the hooked end of this gage, and then the gage ispushed down upon the paper and forms a spring'clip to catch and hold thepaper.

As the shaft 0 and arms 0 00 c are revolved intermittently, the arms aresufficiently above the bed A for the sheets to be placed upon each armin succession, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2; but as the partsare turned the cam I) also acts and lifts the sheet-hold ing armsupwardly, and the sheet is brought up adjacent to the edge of thebook-holding table F. The end of the arm passes into the vertical slotof the locking-platej", and in so doing it is guided to place, and theclip f is relieved by the back end of the clip striking against suchplate. The sheet is carried up under the stripperplate I1, that isformed with openings for the passage of the needles next described, thesewing is performed, the arms drop, leaving the sheet behind, and thenext progressive movement of the shaft 0 brings another arm and itssheet into position, and the operations are repeated.

Upon the frame I) there are four or more horizontal shafts, 1:, withtheir ends projecting and carrying the needles. Each needle I or I ismade with a straight part extending radially from the shaft, and thenthe needle is bent into the form of a semicircle. The groove for thethread is in the exterior surface, and the eyeof the needle is near thepoint. The threads pass to these needles from spools 1' upon a suitablearm or frame, m. These needles are arranged in pairs, the needles 1working from right to left, and the needles 1 moving from left to right.

Any suitable means are employed for giving to these needles and theirshafts a partial rotation at the proper time.

I have shown crank-arms n n upon the back ends of the shafts and linksit n for the needles l I, respectively, and these links are moved at theproper time to give the halfrevolution to the needles by the lovers a nandcam 7 on the main shaft B, and the springs 9 and 10 serve to draw theparts back into their normal position after each stitch has been taken.

When the arm 0 comes around and presents its sheet the needles I l aremoved and take their threads down through the fold and up again, and theloops of thread are left on the points of the horizontal needles 0, thatare moved forward at that time to take said loops like the looper in asewing-machine, and when the next arm, 0, comes around with its sheet,the other needles, I I, operate in the opposite direction and stitchthat sheet, and the loops of thread are also taken by the needles 0; butthey draw otf in the opposite direction, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

By this arrangement the sewing is made to resemble the ordinarybook-sewing by hand, the threads that hold one sheet being at adifferent place in the back to the threads that hold the next sheet asin oif-andmn sewing.

The horizontal needles 0 are in the cross-bar r, that slides upon rods1', projecting backwardly from the stationary bar 1', and the cam 17 onthe shaft 1; acts upon the lever s, link 8', bent lever 8 lever 8 andlink 8, to move the bar r and needles 0 back and forth at the propertime to cause the needlepoints to take off the loops of needle-threadsfrom the semicircular needles and hold them and suspend the sheets.

The stripper-plate h is supported by the guide-rod h, that passesthrough the bar 1'. It is adjusted by the screw 1", and it is moved backand forth at the proper time by the bent lever 1, link 1, lever t, andcam 18 on the shaft B.

The parts are so timed that as soon as the sheet-carryin g arm descendsthe stripper h is moved back to carry the sheet upon the needles o andback out of the way of the next sheet; then the needles 0 are moved backready to go forward again and take the next loop of thread, thestripper-plate h is moved forward, another sheet is brought to position,the other set of curved needles operated, and the sewing is performed asbefore.

There are spring-fingers u at the notches in the stripper-plate, to holdthe sheet adjacent to where the needles perforate the fold of the paper,and these spring-fingers also aid in pushing the sheet upon thehorizontal needles 0 as the stripper is moved back.

The presser-plate h on the arms 6 e, coming between the leaves of thefolded sheet and above the book-holding bed F, aids in placing eachsheet in position above such bed, so that the weight of the book mayrest upon such bed and relieve the needles ofrom undue strain; but, ifdesired, there may be supportingplates h introduced at intervals betweenthe sheets, the ends resting upon supports or slides h and their upperedges being below the needles, as illustrated in the detached view, Fig.10.

When the proper number of sheets have been sewed to form one or morebooks, the eyes of thehorizoutal needles are tobe threaded with cord ortwine and the needles drawn back, so as to draw the twine into the loopsof thread that project from thebacks of the folded sheets, and connectand hold the same in a manner similar to the cords in ordinarybook-binding.

The needles 0 occupy the mortises in the stripper-plate h, and the backedge of this stripper-plate is adjacent to the stationary frame 4, andthe needles pass freely through this frame and are attached in thesliding bar 1"; hence, when the pin 21 of the lever s is lifted out ofthe hole in the bent lever 8 the lever s can be used to force back thebar 1" and draw the needles 0 out of the loops of thread and draw intosaid loops the back cords of the book, as aforesaid.

During this operation the mass of sewed sheets are supported either bythe back part of the stripper-plate or by the frame 1' as the needlesare drawn out.

In some instances a looper may be made use of to draw a thread throughthe loops of needle-thread, as in a two-thread chain-stitchsewing-machine; but I prefer the devices shown.

If desired a catch-thread may be supplied through an eye in line withthe places where the semicircular needles enter. This eye is moved firstone way and then the other, so

that the semicircular needle descends first at one side of this threadand then at the other side in its next descent, so that the catchthreadmay pass across the back and be confined by the sewing and strengthenthe back of the book.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a machine for sewingbooks, a horizontalrange of arms upon a vertical shaft revolved intermittently, incombination with mechanism, substantially as specified, for introducingthe thread into the folded back of the sheet and sewing the sheetstogether in succession as presented by said arms, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination of the vertical shaft 0, revolving horizontal sheetsustaining and presenting arms with semicircular needles for carryingthe threads into and out of the folded back of the sheet, and means,substantially as specified, for interlocking such threads together,substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the sheet presenting and holding arms, thestripper, the semicircular eye pointed needles, and the horizontalloop-holdingneedles, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, in a book-sewing machine, of means for supportingthe folded sheet, curved eye-pointed needles, means, substantially asspecified, for giving a partial rotary movement to the needles, and thestripper-plate for holding the sheet, substantially as specified.

5. A pair of curved eye-pointed needles, arranged to act in oppositedirections, in combination with the loop-taking needle that receives theloops from the two needles, substantially as set forth.

6. In a book-sewing machine, a sheetsupporter that is made of a foldedsheet of metal notched at the portions of the fold where the needleenters, in combination with an eyepointed curved needle that passes inbetween the folded metal in stitching the sheet, substantially asspecified.

7. The combination, in a book-sewing machine, of a shaft and radialsheet-sustaining arms with mechanism, substantially as specified,forimparting a progressive rotation, and a guide'or locking plate forholding the outer end of such arm in position while the sheet is beingsewed, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, in a book-sewing machine, of the sheet-sustainingarm or plate with the swinging clip f, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination, in a book-sewing machine, of the sheet-sustainer,the stripper, the eye-pointed needles, the loop-holding needles, meansfor reciprocating such needles, and the bed F, upon which the edges ofthe sewed sheets rest, substantially as set forth.

10. The combination, with the loop-holding needles, of the sliding bar1" and lever 8 for withdrawing the needles from the sewed book,substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 27th day of January, A. D. 187 9.

DAVID MOCONN ELL SMYTH.

Witnesses:

- GEo. T. PINOKNEY,

CHAS. E. SMITH.

